FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan (International CounterNarcotics Conference)

Bill Rammell: The Afghan Government, United Kingdom (UK) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) co-hosted an International Counter Narcotics Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul on 8/9 February to support implementation of the Afghan National Drug Control Strategy. I was, in the event, unable to attend, due to planes being unable to land in Kabul because of adverse weather conditions. I was represented by HM Ambassador, Rosalind Marsden. Over 300 Afghan and international delegates attended, including 18 Afghan Governors and 32 Police Chiefs as well as officials from all the key Afghan Ministries, representatives from 18 countries, the European Commission, World Bank and Asia Development Bank. President Karzai opened the conference, which was also addressed by Afghan Ministers.
	The Government welcome the success of this event, which was the first time that Afghans had gathered at such a high level and in such large numbers to discuss implementation of the Afghan National Drug Control Strategy. The plenary meeting and working group sessions were all chaired by Afghans. Active participation from Afghans from the floor demonstrated increased commitment to the counter narcotics agenda from all parts of the Afghan government.
	The Government fully share the view of those members of the Afghan government who spoke out forcefully against drugs and agrees with President Karzai, who stressed that the drugs trade was damaging Afghanistan's efforts to develop into a secure, stable democracy with a prosperous economy; that it was in the interests of all Afghans to fight against drugs; that Afghanistan needed the help of the international community to win the battle but the Afghan government was committed to tackling the drugs problem with its own resources also. International speakers also delivered the message that urgent action was required, including tackling corruption.
	Conference participants discussed draft action plans in five areas: law enforcement, judicial reform, alternative livelihoods, public awareness and demand reduction. These action plans have been finalised and form part of a final report of the conference to be published by the UNODC and circulated in Afghanistan and beyond. They include work to:
	increase interdiction activity, for example by increasing the numbers and effectiveness of the Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan and mobile detection teams
	tackle corruption and involvement of officials and commanders in the drugs trade
	increase resources for programmes with maximum alternative livelihoods impact and support the design and implementation of programmes to fill existing gaps, for example in pro-poor agricultural livelihoods, rural finance, off farm activities and micro/small enterprise development
	The UK remains fully committed to support the Afghan Government in implementation of its National Drug Control Strategy, which will in part be secured through delivery of the agreed action plans in key areas. We have committed £70 million over three years for this purpose and will also encourage the participation of other international partners to take on specific activity.

TRANSPORT

GLA Transport Grant 2003–04

Tony McNulty: The Secretary of State for Transport has today re-determinded the GLA transport grant at £1,681,932,000 for 2003–04 following consultation with the Mayor of London, as required under section 101 of the GLA Act 1999. This represents a net reduction of £2,408,000, following lower than envisaged ring fenced expenditure by Transport for London on bus innovation projects.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Planning Delivery Grant

Keith Hill: In July 2002 my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister would be making an additional £350 million available to local authorities over the period 2003–06 to improve the delivery of planning services. The grant is being paid out of additional resources from Spending Review 2002 for planning. We have now decided the basis on which we will distribute the Planning Delivery Grant in 2004–05 and will be informing recipients of their allocations.
	The grant is performance related. Our aim is to enhance the resourcing of the planning system in a way that drives performance improvement and ensures effective delivery of our objectives for sustainable communities which we set out in the document "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future". It is specifically targeted towards meeting the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Public Service Agreements (PSA) 5 and 6. PSA 5 aims to achieve a better balance between housing availability and demand. PSA 6 requires all authorities to have local development frameworks in place (in accordance with agreed Local Development Schemes) and to meet the Best Value development control targets by the end of 2006–07.
	I can confirm today the amount of grant distributed in 2004–05 is £130 million. It will be paid to local planning authorities, regional planning bodies and the Greater London Authority. A small amount of the grant, £2.61 million, will be top-sliced to support a number of national initiatives directly related to improving local authority planning performance. The allocation criteria have been broadened this year and the grant is not just about speed of decision taking. Local authorities are rewarded for both improvement towards and achievement of Best Value development control targets in the period October 2002 to September 2003. The grant also rewards authorities for having an up to date local development plan or for taking steps to introduce a new plan, or make a significant revision to an existing plan, in the period March 2002–September 2003. Grant allocations are enhanced for local authorities within the high housing demand and growth areas identified in the Communities Plan in proportion to their contribution towards delivering net additions to the housing stock. Local authorities are also awarded £5,000 for each Enterprise Area within their boundary, up to a maximum of £100,000.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been concerned to hear allegations that authorities have been refusing applications or putting pressure on applicants to withdraw in order to qualify for increased grant. We have carried out extensive lysis and have found no consistent statistical relationship between the indicators said to represent these practices and improved performance. We remain concerned, however, to ensure that local authorities are not rewarded for providing a poor service. Where a local planning authority's performance on appeal is poor we are abating initial allocations by 10 per cent.
	In 2003–04 the grant was paid without condition. In 2004–05 two conditions will be imposed on PDG payments. The conditions are designed to ensure that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has the power to act appropriately to partly withhold payment or recover part or all of grant paid where there are concerns over the accuracy or proven inaccuracies in the information on which allocations were made. We will be withholding part of the grant allocated to authorities whose Best Value Performance Indicator 109 (BVPI 109) has been qualified by the auditor until we have written to the authorities concerned to investigate the reason for the qualification and the reliability of the data on which grant was allocated. Following this we may seek to recover some or all of the monies paid to those authorities.
	Grant allocations are not ring-fenced and authorities have complete discretion in the way they spend this money. Areas that authorities may consider concentrating on include: contributing to the preparation of regional planning guidance and the future regional spatial strategies; completing current reviews of existing development plans and preparing for the new system of local development frameworks; better resourcing of IT systems; assistance from consultants; outsourcing of certain planning services; increasing staffing levels; training for staff and councillors; supporting mediation services; encouraging a more diverse planning workforce; bursaries for employees to gain planning qualifications and more use of technical staff.
	Regional Planning Bodies receive grant to support their work preparing regional spatial strategies and in recognition of the additional work which the strengthened regional planning function envisaged by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, currently before Parliament, will involve. In 2004–05 this totals just under £7 million. The Greater London Authority receives grant in recognition of its plan making responsibilities and is allocated funds on its progress towards publishing the London Plan.
	County Councils will receive resources from the grant in recognition of their minerals and waste plan responsibilities. They do not receive direct resources from the grant to prepare structure plans. The counties' planning functions are being changed under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill currently before Parliament. Subject to Royal Assent, County Councils will cease to have a duty to prepare structure plans but their resources will not be reduced accordingly. Therefore as this function winds down they will be able to take advantage of freed up resources. It will be important that these freed up resources, and the expertise available in county councils, are retained and used to deliver other county planning responsibilities and to undertake their function as statutory consultees in the preparation of regional spatial strategies (RSS), which are due to replace regional planning guidance under the Bill, and local development frameworks. Counties can also be engaged to conduct RSS related work on an agency basis.
	Decisions have yet to be taken on the basis of the grant for 2005–06. However, the requirement to meet PSA 5 and 6 means that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to link grant awards to improved planning performance so as to incentivise authorities to reach and exceed the development control handling targets and produce local development documents in a timely manner and to incentivise delivery of housing in areas of high housing demand. Authorities should be aware that they will need to continue to secure improvement in these areas. We will monitor performance in respect of both development control and plan making in order to inform future decisions on this. In 2005–06 we will be rewarding authorities for their progress in implementing e-planning. The nature of this assessment has not yet been decided. We will consult on full proposals for allocations before any final decisions are taken.
	A table showing the amounts payable and letters to all Leaders of local and county planning authorities; Chief Executives of the regional planning bodies; and the Mayor of London are available in the libraries of the House. They set out the details of each recipient's grant.

Growth Areas Fund

Yvette Cooper: "Creating sustainable communities: Making it Happen: Thames Gateway and the Growth Areas" published in July 2003 announced outline plans for a £164 million package for the three newer growth areas of Ashford, Milton Keynes-South Midlands, and London-Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough. Commitments were made then to fund individual schemes to a total value of £88 million, and a further £63 million was announced on 14 January this year.
	My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is announcing today a further £22 million of funding, which will support sustainable growth in the London Stansted Cambridge Peterborough Growth Area. We are providing these resources to help site assembly and remediation of brownfield land, additional affordable housing and essential infrastructure in the growth area. The inclusion of Peterborough in the area takes into account its history of successful growth and its potential for contributing to the growth area as a whole.
	A full list of the further projects that we are supporting will be made available in the House Libraries. They include over £10 million for redevelopment and to enable the more rapid delivery of at least 2,000 new homes in Peterborough. It also includes almost £500,000 to open up the River Roding in Ilford as a green space and improve the local ecological environment, and £1.8 million to kick-start a major development at Tottenham Hale, including remodelling the major transport interchange. Other projects will include over £1.2 million to unlocking and improving access to development sites in Walthamstow to provide potential for 500 new homes and jobs.